31 Questions For Barking Alien - Phase II - Question 9

The dark ruminations that plague my endless existence have been disturbed by Miguel de Rojas once again! Suffer with me as I attempt to answer Question #9...

Judging from your timeline, you probably were right in the middle of the World of Darkness craze at the right age and place, yet it doesn't seem to have impacted your gaming in any meaningful way. Can you tell us how you lived it?

I've written and re-written this post half a dozen times already, diving deep into my history with the World of Darkness, how I first discovered it, my initial thoughts, my first campaign, blah blah yada yada. It was all to give context to how I really want to answer this question. Instead, I'll get right to the point...

Although I was impressed by the game, partly caught up in the hype and partly appreciative to encounter a game that eschewed the approach taken by many 'Old School Mainstream' games of the time (late 1980s/early 1990s), I didn't really hop on that train until Mage came around. 

The game seemed cool, the mechanics interesting, but I've never been much of a horror fan and the games' gray-to-black morals held no interest for me. Remember, this is the guy whose favorite TRPGs are related to Star Trek, Star Wars, and Silver/Bronze Age Superheroes. I couldn't care less about vampires [at the time], was only slightly more intrigued by werewolves, and it wasn't until World of Darkness started to become a full on 'World' that it really grabbed my interest and attention. 

By the time Mage: The Ascension came out there were a number of supplements that expanded the setting quite a bit. It was about this time, with more than just Vampires, Werewolves, and Wizards running around, that I fully invested in the game line and decided to run a game. I ended up running a number of short-to-medium length campaigns until I hit upon a cool idea for a longer term game.

I had a number of people interested and the campaign opened with a real bang. The details allude me right now but the very first scene had one of the PCs waking up with a hangover on top of Saint Patrick's Cathedral, unsure of how and when he got there. The initial session went over quite well, as did the campaign. Not longer after I played in a friend's campaign where I got to play a Mummy. Really fun.

After that...nothing really. I don't recall playing any World of Darkness related games again until much later; a few years in fact. It wasn't until I ran a brief jaunt of Mage and a slightly longer game of Changeling [both] with Selina (see my previous post). Why? That is, why did I just kind of drop the World of Darkness?

Well...

It just really wasn't my bag. I mean it kinda was but not as much as other things were and are. I would definitiely put World of Darkness and its various installments, particularly Changeling and Mage, on a list of 'Games I've Enjoyed' but it would be much further down the list than Star Trek Adventures, Smurfs, Ghostbusters, Star Wars D6, Traveller, Champions, Ars Magica, and perhaps another dozen RPGs. I'm just not that into the bleak, gothic-punk genre and subject matter. I prefer my heroes heroic, my universes hopeful, and colors a bit on the brighter and bold side. Usually. I do like some spooky stuff. 

Did it impact my gaming in a meaningful way? Hmm. I think at the time it did have a noticable effect on me, getting me out of my comfort zone and exploring somewhat darker subject matter than I traditionally focused on. At the same time, when I think about my somewhat renewed interest in the Creepy and Disturbing, I don't think of World of Darkness. At least I haven't. I honestly haven't thought about it in years prior to this question. My tastes lean more towards ghost stories, Stranger Things, Ghostbusters of course, and some Anime/Manga horror. 

The World of Darkness was a big, powerful blip along the timeline of my 48 years in the hobby but in the end, it was but a blip.

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Barking Alien

Lacking Subtlety

Games, generally speaking, are not subtle. 

What do I mean?

Well, I had a conversation with my pal Dave about this a few days ago and I came to the conclusion that most games lack subtlety. Their settings, premises, and how the various elements of those things are introduced to the players/PCs is often over-the-top, blatant, and even crude.

Everything is Extreme!, like the music videos of the eighties. Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, RIFTS, and Shadowrun are perhaps the most obvious examples of this idea. The art contributes to this to a large degree but also the commonality of the elements within:. Spells and Magic are everywhere, monsters are species that appear in large groups, there are towering, skyscraper-like castles, and fantastically fashionably dressed characters abound.

I've noted in the past that this is one of the key reasons D&D and the likes of it don't appeal to me. It isn't really very medieval. The bizarre, and glowingly arcane is so common place as to feel mundane. Every evil wizard, and dreadful monster is so much bigger, and more eccentric than the last that none of it seems special. There is no grounding in reality to judge the fabulous against.

I prefer subtlety. I like worlds that seem essentially real, basically normal, until you realize they are not, but at first can't put your finger squarely on why. As the wonder, and weirdness is revealed over time, you begin to have a new appreciation for not only that which is strange, but also for the comfort of the world you thought you knew. 

This works better in some genres than others, though many games with similar genres, or even the same genres, can be approached subtly as easily as they can be flagrant, and unabashed.

To illustrate what I mean, let's look at the World of Darkness.

Traditionally, Vampire: The Masquerade is subtle. The world of the Vampires remains in the shadows. The people of the world are not aware a secret war of blood-drinkers in being waged just outside the edge of their vision. Battles between members of The Kindred are stealthy, secretive affairs.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse however often seems over-the-top and obvious. No, the world is no more aware of the Werewolves then they are of the Vampires but the powers in the game, the way battles are fought, and such makes the supernatural parts of the setting seem very apparent. Werewolf campaigns commonly end up feeling like Superhero games more often than not.

Vampires are quiet, hidden, and stealthy. Werewolves are loud, brutal, and right in your face. That's the point right? I suppose...

Marvel and DC aren't subtle. HEROES is. Often Superhero games aren't subtle, like ICONS, Champions, and of course Marvel and DC related ones. Aberrant isn't really subtle either. GODLIKE? Hmmm. Perhaps.

How about in Science Fiction? Star Wars, Star Trek, and even Traveller are not generally subtle. Cyberpunk could be, but often isn't. Hmmm. SF is tough. One might consider the film Interstellar subtle, maybe Blade Runner (at least partially) or perhaps 2001: A Space Odyssey, but a subtle SF RPG?...hard pressed to think of one. 

Now I don't want to give the impressive I don't like the flashy imposing set pieces or crazy action of a mainstream blockbuster every once in a while. I absolutely do! I just wish we saw a bit more of the other approach in table top games. Right now Tales from the Loop is the best example of what I am thinking of, though even its default setting is a bit more transparent and less subtle than I'd like (as I posted last month, I would run it a bit differently than the book implies).

What about you? Do you think there is a place for subtle gaming? What settings do you feel come off as subtle? Is there a subtle Fantasy game?*

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Barking Alien

*I think maybe Ars Magica could be considered subtle, depending on how you look at it. Any others?

WORLD OF DARKNESS - THE LIGHT BRINGER

I've been wanting to get back to Campaigns I Have Know for a long time now. I find it a lot of fun, and it seems to have been pretty popular among my viewership (you five know who you are. Thanks for stopping by).

I promised around the time of my last entry in this series that the next few would be a bit different. Mainly, I wanted to focus on successful campaigns I've run that were set in genres, or settings that may seem atypical for me. While I'd like to say I cover a wide range of RPG topics, I can't deny that I swing back to my favorites fairly often. Star Trek, Star Wars, General Sci-Fi, Superheroes, Anime and Manga related games, and comedic games certainly get more attention than anything else.

I am complex however. A many layered renaissance man as it were. OK, maybe just a guy who likes to stretch his creative muscles, and try new games. Either way, I've run some campaigns that certainly don't fit the genres listed above, and some may even use games you wouldn't think I'd like.

One such example is...

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Campaigns I Have Known

Proudly Presents...

 

WORLD OF DARKNESS - THE LIGHT BRINGER

The key element to this campaign was that I didn't want to run Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, or Wraith: The Oblivion*, nor did any of my players want to play in a campaign limited to any one of those titles. We wanted to run and play 'The World of Darkness'.

As such, I made some minor adjustments to both the established settings canon, and the rules to allow all of the various supernatural types to coexist without any one type having an unfair advantage in all situations.

True, Mages eventually had the upper hand in terms of rare power, but even they were held in check somewhat by the laws of the universe (not the laws of nature, or the law of physics mind you. They could slap those around if they wanted to), and by the collective conscious of Humanity.

Title: WORLD OF DARKNESS - THE LIGHT BRINGER

System: World of Darkness (White Wolf), 1st Edition - Some House Rules.

Circa: 1993-1994. There were roughly a dozen sessions, each lasting 6-12 hours. The game took a hiatus in the middle due to the December-January Holiday to New Year season.

Player Base: There were five players, four male and one female, ages 22-25. All the players were present for all the sessions, and unlike a lot of my other games, there were no guest players, or characters.

Characters: Sadly, I don't recall the characters' names. I don't know why I don't remember them, since it wasn't that long ago. It's possible the relatively short 'run time' of the series, only about twelve episodes, made it more challenging for me to imprint the names into my noggin. As with other campaigns I've posted in the past, I do remember the characters themselves quite well, as well as who played them.

If any of the original players read this and can remember the names of the characters, please let me know, and I'll update this post.

Human Mage - Non-Traditional (played by Adam T.)

Our story begins, and largely centers on, a young man trying to find himself in the world. A brilliant dreamer, an artist, a poet, and an unconventional thinker, he parties too hard, and thinks too much in a desperate attempt to make sense out of our senseless existances.

After a particularly wild night at an exclusive underground party in New York City, he wakes up on the roof of Saint Patrick's Cathedral, not know how he got there.

Following this bizarre occurrence, he begins to stumble upon, and be confronted by increasingly strange people, and events that lead him to discover he is part of a fantastic legacy. He is a Mage, gifted with the innate ability to alter the vary fabric of time, and space.

Numerous forces wish to sway him to their cause, as the end of the world is coming, and what follows is really up to him. If he can be convinced to see things the way a given faction sees them, he could make them the masters of the Earth, and beyond.

Werewolf of The Get of Fenris (play by Aris)

A Werewolf of mixed Scandinavian descent, this character is hinted as being the last of the Get of Fenris, or at least the last of his particular pack, and its extended family. He is acutely aware of the coming Apocalypse as he, and his tribe have been charged since the dawn of time with protecting the Avatar of the Ascension, the person who will bring about the new, post End-of-Days world.

Opponents of the PCs claimed the Get of Fenris Werewolf was lying. The Get is descended from the Fenris Wolf and as such, are charged with bringing about the destruction of all things according to some. They are said to be the ushers of Ragnarok.


Vampire of the Clan Tremere (played by Jason N.)

Vampire and Blood Sorceror of the Clan Tremere, this fellow claimed to be an ancestral blood relative of our young Mage. He tried to sway the newly emerging Avatar towards the world view of the Tremere, and their ruling Elders until he found out more about his own origins, and what the Tremere truly intended to do with the 'World After'.

Turning on his own Clan, he sought allies in the Magus community, but found very few willing to trust him. Luckily, our Tremere finally found an ally in the most unlikely of people - the ghost of a former mortal lover who knew a few things about the young Mage and his destiny. 

Ghost/Angel* (played by Angie)

*Perhaps the most unusual of the characters, our Ghost was born from our utter disappointment with Wraith: The Oblivion.

When Wraith was first announced, it had another subtitle instead of 'The Oblivion'. Rumors from convention playtests described a very different game from what we eventually got, and a far superior concept IMHO.

Wraith suffered from being separated from the World of Darkness, taking place in a bizarre, extremely esoteric Afterlife dimension. What it didn't do was give us what we all imagined it would, tragic characters caught between the mortal world, and an afterlife. We didn't wanted to be Ghosts in Ghost Land. We wanted to be Ghosts haunting the world of the living - The World of Darkness.

With a bit of work, and some creative GMing and playing, I think we got what we wanted. Later supplements to Wraith would come close, but the game never really did the job we were hoping it would do. Wraith's failure to be a game about playing spirits of the dead walking among the non-departed was a major contributing factor to my development of my own game Unfinished Business.

Sometime in the late 1930's or early forties, our Tremere Vampire had been romantically involved with an African American nightclub singer who packed the halls wherever and whenever she crooned in New York's various Harlem hotspots.

Sadly, the lovely lady met an unfortunate end when caught in the crossfire of organized crime gangs. In truth, these 'gangs' were agents of the Technocracy, an authoritarian organization of Magi looking to rule the world by suppressing the understanding and belief in magic among normal, mundane Humans, and introducing it through technology and science that they alone would have domain over.

Learning many secrets that lie in the lands beyond this mortal coil, our haunting heroine discovered much about the prophesized Apocalypse and what could be done about it. She lent her unique knowledge and abilities to our group in hopes of saving the world, finding peace, and passing on once and for all.

Human Hunter of The Supernatural** (played by Keith)

**So here's another example of wrestling something out of a system it wasn't really designed to accommodate.

Hunter: The Reckoning, the World of Darkness game that enables you to play a 'normal' person fighting the supernatural beings of the setting, wouldn't be out for another five years or so when we began this campaign. We had to make this character up from scratch, developing a number of different concepts and rules to enable him to stand up to the obviously far superior physical abilities, and superhuman powers of his would-be opponents.

What we ended up with would be woefully weak compared to the Hunter: The Reckoning PCs you would later be able to build in that game. As such, I think Keith's character was infinitely cooler. He was a normal person. He had reasonable gear, and weapons. He was considerably out of his league. He was therefore far more interesting than the Buffy-like super soldiers one plays in Hunter.

Keith couldn't decide what to play at first, then envisioned a CIA, or FBI agent who had learned that the World of Darkness actually existed. With no proof and well on his way to being fired, if not committed to a mental institution, the agent went rogue.

He became a one man army, protecting the oblivious mortal world from the darker denizens of the supernatural. However, it was clear early on that the character had no real understanding of the World of Darkness, it's exact make up, or it's politics. The true nature of the various groups (Mages, Vampires, Werewolves) were unknown to him.

Eventually hooking up with the group and learning that not all supernatural beings exist simply to prey on Humanity, the Agent/Hunter lent his much needed expertise, intelligence, firepower, not to mention his pure willpower and guts to the cause.

Like many of Keith's characters, a personal favorite PC of mine. The normal person in the World of Darkness on the eve of Armageddon. Awesome.

Synopsis: As noted, the campaign mainly revolved around a young man discovering both he, and the world he lived in, were not what they seemed. Almost overnight he goes from hedonistic, philosophical drifter to the driven, responsible Chosen One, and really the transition isn't all that smooth.

Rebelling against fate at first, he soon decides to grab the reigns of destiny tightly with both hands, and find out how to steer the thing so he can make the best possible choice for the people of the Earth.

A multitude of factions seek to gain control of the young man and his power. Their goal is to place themselves in the role of deciding factor for what the world after the Apocalypse will be like.

Interestingly, many of the other PCs start with their own ideas, and agendas, but eventually back the Mage on his play, whatever it's going to be. Turning on their own kind, and even their own ideals to some extent, the group realizes that in the end, the world is not here solely for their supernatural minorities. The greater good is what is good for all Humanity. Each of them is, in a fashion, still Human whether they are cursed with feeding on the blood of the living, charged with protecting the Earth as shapeshifters, or gifted with the powers, and responsibilities of magic.

The world they end up choosing, is a world without their kind. A world in balance.

After twelve sessions of The World of Darkness, the darkness was removed. The world of White Wolf's setting was no more.

Appendix N: Aside from the multitude of books in the World of Darkness line, other contributing inspirations included The Lost Boys, Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire and related books, comic books such as I, Vampire, Swamp Thing, Hellraiser, Books of Magic (All DC Comics), and a variety of comics and short stories in the modern, gothic horror genre.

Bonus Features:

I owned all of the main books, and dozens of supplements for World of Darkness across all the various lines. This campaign was created before Changeling: The Dreaming was released, which is actually my favorite White Wolf game. It is my favorite for the exact same reason I dislike Wraith - it doesn't really deal with the World of Darkness.

For Changeling that makes sense. For Wraith it doesn't.

This was one of only three World of Darkness campaigns I ever ran (not including Changeling campaigns). It was the longest, and definitely the most successful (other than ones for Changeling). I eventually sold all my World of Darkness stuff (except Changeling of course).

This particular gaming group is what I sometimes refer to as a transitional group. Some of the players were new friends, or were friends I had not yet gamed with who later became part of a long term group. Some were friends who came and went, thanks to the universe's strange way of moving people through your life.

Next time...Something medieval fantasy I think...Heheh

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Barking Alien

31 Flavors of Vanilla

As someone who enjoys many different rules systems and game settings, I often get very frustrated with playing the same old thing again and again. While I would love to be part of a long term campaign that lasts for years and years, at this point in my life I'll be lucky if my friends and I can get together a few times a month for a whole year. If this is going to be the case (as it has been for some years now), I want to expand my gaming horizons and try some new flavors instead of the same old vanilla.

It seems however that when a campaign ends and/or something new is called for, the vast majority of players and GMs default to the same games. Usually its some incarnation of Dungeons & Dragons or the D20 System. Superheroes games see a lot of activity in the circles I travel in and I am a big fan but even then too much of a good thing can lead to boredom with the genre. World of Darkness used to be a common default but not so much for my groups over the past few years and rarely the one I find to be the most intriguing of the series, Changeling: The Dreaming.

I long for someone other then myself to run something strange, different and new. Mouse Guard, Faery's Tale Deluxe and Spirit of the Century would all be a welcome change. Alternatively, something ol' school and classic would be nice too. I haven't played Call of Cthulhu in forever. Nor have I had the opportunity to play Cyberpunk, Shadowrun (any edition) or Gamma World in recent memory.

Now, what I would like to point out if it was not particularly clear is that these are games I'd love to play. I consider myself about 90% Gamemaster and 10% Player, prefering to GM the vast majority of the time. In part, it is because I know I will run something different from time to time. This is occaisionally met with a little initial resistance. Many players my age don't want to learn a new system. A lot of my current players are GMs as well and seem to prefer games where this fact gives them an advantage during character creation (yes, for the first time in 25-30 years I have min-maxers and powergamers - slay me).

Also, many of the game ideas I enjoy and have run for full on awesome campaigns in the past are viewed as not 'serious' enough by my current peers (Faery's Tale Deluxe, Mouse Guard, Oz) without really giving them a chance. So my thinking is, if my ideas are too 'goofy' for you, please come up with something yourself. Unfortunately, at least for me, the response to that is usually, "OK. I've got an idea for D&D...". To which I often reply, "Zzzzz..."

Well, my hope is that things will improve as I try to introduce new ideas to the groups and see if anything sticks. Already a few of my players and fellow GMs are looking at games they may not have looked at before. The chance to run something truly unusual may still be a ways away but at least I can look forward to more variety in the future instead of 31 flavors of vanilla.

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Barking Alien